Dear overbearing phone mom - No thanks!

You may have read the post from an overbearing mom who was trying to control her kid because she purchased a phone for him. The level of contempt this mom shows for her son is disheartening. Fortunately, this mom’s whole desire to impose lessons upon him falls short if he rejects her gift. Teaching your child that money equals control is a shameful and dangerous lesson.  We can respect children and help them become responsible without such control.  
Here is the letter from this mom followed by what a hypothetical teen (based on real conversations with teens about the issue) who doesn’t accept her gift might say.

Dear Gregory

Merry Christmas!  You are now the proud owner of an iPhone.  Hot Damn!  You are a good & responsible 13 year old boy and you deserve this gift.  But with the acceptance of this present comes rules and regulations.  Please read through the following contract.  I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it.  Failure to comply with the following list will result in termination of your iPhone ownership.

I love you madly & look forward to sharing several million text messages with you in the days to come.

Dear Mom,

I appreciate gifts, but this is not a gift. A gift does not come with strings attached so I don’t choose to accept this.  Below are my responses to your strings.
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Why no school is the best school if you can't afford an independent school

A friend recently asked what school/districts I recommend near New York City. When my boyfriend and I discussed this a few years back I rattled off numerous schools and districts like this one.  Back then my job consisted in part of supporting schools with something called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) which honors students passions, talents, interests, abilities and learning style. My advice today is very different.

What learning looks like for the children
of the wealthy or highly educated.

Those SEM schools are gone for the most part, though some hang on by a thread with an after school program.

Priorities have changed.

Gone are the days when we saw our children as creative, unique individuals and educators as the ones who could help them discover, explore, and develop their passions.

Today our teachers and students know they are nothing more than mere datapoints who will be fed a pre-packaged, curriculum that is measured by numerous One-Size-Fits-All tests that line the pockets of publishers like Pearson, fill the egos of politicians who don't know better and hurt our children.

Penelope Trunk, a wildly successful career advisor explains it this way:

"Test-based curricula is irrefutably ineffective and bad for kids. I'm not even providing a link, because it's so widely reported. However no one can think of a better way to run such a large and diverse public school system as the one we have in the US, so test-based curricula will persist for a long time."

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The hottest post of 2012 on The Innovative Educator

Another year is behind us as 2012 has come to an end. Before you get to the list of the hottest posts of the year, I want to say thank you to all the educators, parents, and young people who’ve spent it here and in The Innovative Educator group thinking and learning with me. I think more broadly and more deeply because of  the feedback and advice you have provided to me throughout the year.

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How will you help datapoint students who are standing up and speaking out

Noa Rosinplotz at Spelling Bee via Flickr

More and more students are waking up, standing up, and speaking out against standardized testing.  Most recently 6th grade student Noa Rosinplotz posted the following story on her Facebook Page aptly named Datapoints. 

The Little Datapoint and the Big Bad Test

Once upon a time, there was a little datapoint named Rosin Plotz, Noa. Her friends called her by her ID number, 9------, or 9 for short. She liked her job-most of the time. But 6 times a year, or 19 days in total, came the Big Bad test. The Little Datapoint completed the test dutifully each time, mulling the possibilities of Paul Revere's horse's emotions and checking her work not once, but twice. She and the other Datapoints together formed a Chart, which was their Job. The Little Datapoint felt very proud at having been a part of such a great endeavor. Then one day, the Little Datapoint felt a different emotion. The Little Datapoint felt ANGRY. The Little Datapoint thought: Is this all I am good for? Providing data on tests? That can't be all there is to life, can it?. These questions are dumb, thought the Little Datapoint. I should not spend my life answering these questions. Paul Revere's horse will never change the world, she said to herself. Paul Revere's horse is dead. But I can still change the world. And I will never do that by answering these questions, day after day, year after year. And that Little Datapoint did not answer her questions. That Little Datapoint RIPPED UP HER TEST AND THREW IT INTO THE DEEP DARK RECESSES OF THE TRASH CAN TO FESTER AND EVENTUALLY DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH LASTING FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!!!!!!!"

But that's not all.  She also wrote a letter which Diane Ravitch recently posted on her blog here.

Noa is not alone.  Last year I shared two letters from students in grades five and six speaking out against tests.

• Kids know best. They don' want the test. - Anthony Hererra
• Fifth grader's smart advice about standardized tests - Joel

Students are speaking out. Parents are speaking out.  Teachers are speaking out. We know these tests are not what's best for children. 

"Those of us who know better, need to do better and stand between the defenseless children we serve and the madness around us. If a destructive idea needs to be challenged or a right defended, I’ll speak up." (Au Contraire, Nov 2012) - Gary Stager

Nothing will change if we allow the government to impose these destructive practices upon children. It may not be easy, but doing what is right and best for the oppressed often is not. Our children don't need these tests. Our teachers don't. Our parents don't. The only ones who do are the politicians and multi-billion dollar testing industry. We must stand up to this Goliath, take back the learning and put it where it belongs...in the hands of children, their parents, and the teachers who have their student's best interest at heart.

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This is how Democracy ends — Apology from a former teacher

Recently Kris Nielsen, the Teacher Dropout I featured on my blog last month, wrote this to me on Facebook:

A while back, I asked you if you saw any redeeming qualities about CCSS. Your answer got me thinking. Since then, you could say I've seen the light. To follow is the post he wrote that appears on his blog Middle Grades Mastery. 

Almost a year ago, I offered my time to the middle school at which I was employed to give a two-night presentation that promised to ease parents’ concerns about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Connected Mathematics Program (CMP).  I was given kudos by my boss, my coworkers, and many of those parents.  We talked about the future, the upcoming tests by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), and we even did some hands-on math demonstrations.  It was a good time for me, and I hope those parents can say the same.  My message was simple: trust us–we got this!

Some of them were still skeptical, and they should be praised for that skepticism.

First, I want to offer you my apologies.  It wasn’t long after my presentation that I had a crushing realization that the entire thing (minus the hands-on stuff) was completely misguided.  I felt like a flip-flopper, but I’ve always valued the truth more than feeling good.  So, I’m here to clear the air.  The truth hurts and it should start scaring the hell out of you, because your children are your most precious gift and you will do anything to protect them.

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Extraordinary education happenings in 2012

17-year-old Nikhil Goyal nails it with his take on the Best of 2012: The Five Most Extraordinary Things to Happen in Education for GOOD magazine.

Goyal hits on five transformative developments effecting education this year.  The one I'm most jazzed about for innovative educators is how students were able to use the power of social media to have a voice in the education conversation.  

From Goyal:

The Students Speak Out: 

Students around the nation have seized the national microphone and have begun articulating their voices in education. With hundreds of student protests documented, young people are no longer willing to sit idly on the sidelines. In September, I published my first book on revolutionizing education from a student’s perspective. Earlier this month, Stephanie Rivera and few other college students launched Students United for Public Education in an effort to stop the takeover of public education in America. The group even had a protest. 

And this past summer, Zak Malamed founded the StuVoice movement, corralling student leaders onto one platform, giving spotlight to their voices, and making some dents in education policy. For one, Malamed, Matthew Resnick, Joshua Lafazan, myself, and a few other students signed a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo demanding that students be added onto the New York State Education Reform Commission. With the power of social media, we will not stop petitioning, marching, protesting, and rallying until our voices are heard and represented. As educator Diane Ravitch once said, “When the students awaken, the national conversation will change.”

One of the most import jobs of innovative educators is empowering our students to have their voices heard and represented. It is imperative that we ensure students are prepared to effectively use the tools of their world to change their world.  

Read the rest of Goyal's extraordinary happenings here. 

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Start the New Year with a new way to look at students who don't seem to care

There is more than one way to look at someone.

"My students don't know how to learn.  They don't know how to succeed.  And, it doesn't seem like they care to change any of that. " -Crystal Kirch, My biggest struggle this yearHigh school math teacher Crystal Kirch’s biggest struggle of 2012 was met with both cheers from those who could commiserate as well as jeers from those who were concerned that students were not the culprit, but rather the victims of a system that set them up for failure.  Earlier this year, Kirch found it so difficult to consider feedback from those who saw things differently that she censored comments calling them "intense attacks" and blocked those who made them on Twitter. Kirch isn't the only one who refuses to learn from those outside the echo chamber. Ira Socol recently had a similar experience when offering an alternate perspective to a teacher about a student and parent that opposed forced classroom testing.

But here's what these closed-minded educators are missing.

An important benefit of the read / write web is the ability to hear and potentially gain another way of seeing things.

Gary Stager explains what those offering an alternate perspective to these student-blaming teachers were doing: 

"Those of us who know better, need to do better and stand between the defenseless children we serve and the madness around us. If a destructive idea needs to be challenged or a right defended, I’ll speak up." (Au Contraire, Nov 2012)

When I initially wrote the post explaining that a personal learning network was not an echo chamber, readers questioned my assessment of the comments that Kirch censored. Some thought, maybe Kirch was being honest and they were attacks. Maybe the comments on Kirch's blog from others who blamed students weren't that troublesome. 

As requested in the comments, I'll let readers decide for themselves. If you were one of those teachers that think students don't know how to learn and don't care, perhaps you'll think again about how you look at these students after reading some alternate perspectives.

To follow are reactions from teachers who shared frustration over the struggle of kids who they felt don't want to learn followed by insights Kirch called "intense attacks" from those who defended children and challenged this point of view.
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